The month of November inspires people to many actions; creating large feasts for gatherings of family and friends, venturing outside for bargains on the busiest shopping day of the year, and writing a novel of 50,000 words in one month. Yes, to more than 100,000 people around the world, November is more than just the hectic month preceding a barrage of winter holidays. November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and this year marks the 10th anniversary of writers joining together with a common purpose; to produce a complete novel in 30 days.

Created by writer Chris Baty, NaNoWriMo began humbly in July 1999 when Baty and a group of 21 participants in the San Francisco Bay area decided to push their literary creativity to the limits. The idea caught on and the next year the challenge was moved to November. By 2001, NaNoWriMo was online and attracting writers from across the country. According to Baty, he expected 150 writers to sign-up for the marathon writing session in 2001. He was astounded when 5000 writers actually signed up and participated that year. The number of annual participants has risen ever since.

“NaNoWriMo is a great opportunity for writers,” says Abby Westlin of Nashville, Tenn. “It isn’t about quality, there isn’t enough time to worry about that. It’s strictly about quantity and getting the words on the page.”

Why the attention on quantity over quality?

“Because the strict deadline forces you to lower your expectations of yourself,” says Tom Allen of Nashville, Tenn. “You have to make decisions and take risks. It generally turns out poorly, but it’s only a first draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just finished. You can always fix a poor story. You can’t fix a story that’s never written.”

NaNoWriMo inspires people to get over their fear of perfection and just write. While several NaNoWriMo novels became publishable works, they did not start that way. Instead, NaNoWriMo forces writers to exit their comfort zones and see where reckless literary abandon can take them.

NaNoWriMo 2008 already has a record breaking 125,000 participants. With weekly pep talks sent via email by writers including Jonathan Stroud and Philip Pullman, it is set to be an interesting month. For more information on NaNoWrimo, including how to get involved, visit

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